Article packing and display container



Feb; 18, 1958 H. AMATEL ARTICLE PACKING AND DISPLAY CONTAINER Filed July 1, 1954 mm A United States p ARTICLE PACKING AND DISPLAY CONTAINER Haroid Amatel, Verona, N. J., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa, a carpetstion of Pennsylvania Application July 1, 1954, Serial No. 440,583

Claims. (Cl. 206-65) This invention relates to article packing and display containers and, more particularly, to Christmas tree lamp packing and display containers.

Christmas tree lamp packing containers of the prior art have afforded adequate protection for such lamps against the shocks encountered in handling, but in such containers the packed lamps have not been visible for purposes of display without altering the packing container in some way. Any packing container alteration has been time consuming as well as detrimental to the protection afforded the lamp. Alternately, the lamps have been piled loosely in bins to facilitate customer inspection, with attendant breakage and injury to the lamps. It is of course obvious that where Christmas tree lamps are concerned the customer is particularly interested in the esthetic qualities of the lamp, rather than the wattage, etc. and thus demands adequate visual inspection.

it is the general object of the invention to avoid and overcome the foregoing and other difficulties of and objections to prior art practices by the provision of a Christmas tree lamp or other article container which will protect and contain the articles and yet permit the display of the packed articles without any alteration or disassembling of the packing container.

It is another object to provide an article packing and display container wherein one or more of the packed and displayed articles may be removed without decreasing the packing or display effectiveness of the container and without decreasing the protection afforded to the packed articles.

It is a further object to provide an article packing and display container wherein at least two protective layers of insulating or shock absorbing medium are included between each packed article.

It is still another object to provide an article packing and display container wherein the inherent flexibility of the container material affords additional cushioning to the packed article for protection against shocks, etc.

It is yet another object to provide an article packing and display container which has a very simple construction and which may be easily and simply fabricated.

It is a still further object to provide an article packing and display container in which the articles may be packed easily and which container is adapted for multiple loading, that is, two or more articles may be loaded simultaneously.

The aforesaid objects of the invention, and other objects which will become apparent as the description proceeds, are achieved by providing an article packing and display container which is provided with a plurality of article receiving slots in the container facing, which article receiving slots are separated from one another by facing spacers. Article retaining flaps attached to and bendable about the facing spacers serve to securely retain the articles in their respective slots within the container.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view taken on the line IIII of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevational view taken on the line lII-III of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vector diagrams illustrating the character of the forces exerted on the loaded Christmas tree lamps by the article retaining flaps;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the container during fabrication, just after the retaining slot cuts have been formed therein. In this view one corner of the formed contrainer is turned back to illustrate the corrugations which are used in the preferred embodiment of this invention;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view, partly in section, of a stack of formed and folded containers, ready 'forChristmas tree lamp loading;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view, corresponding to Fig. 2, illustrating an alternative embodiment of the invention.

Although the principles of the invention are broadly applicable to a. display and packing container for any relatively small class of articles, the invention has particular application in conjunction with packing and display of Christmas tree lamps and hence it has been so illustrated and will be so described.

With specific reference to the form of the invention illustrated in the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates generally a Christmas tree lamp packing and display container which preferably takes the form of an open-ended,

generally rectangular carton or container having a bottom 12, sides 14 and a face 16. Formed in the face 16 are a plurality of transversely disposed article receiving and retaining slots 18, each of which slots is formed and defined by a plurality of substantially oppositely disposed edge cuts 20 and 22 along the edges 24 and 26 formed by the intersections of the face 16 and the sides 14. Intermediately positioned between the extremities of each of the edge cuts 20 and 22 is a transverse face cut 25 which extends from one edge 24 to the other edge 26. While each of these transverse cuts is preferably centered between the extremities of the edge cuts, it may be desirable in some cases to slightly offset these transverse cuts from this centered position. Portions of the carton face are thus cut on three sides to form the retaining flaps 27, which flaps are free to bend about the uncut face portion because of the flexibility of the carton mat rial. It is, of course, well-known that paper has considerable flexibility when bent without creasing.

The carton or container is preferably fabricated of tin facing paper having bonded thereto thin corrugated paper for body, flexibility, rigidity and lamp protection. The corrugated paper is positioned interiorly of the facing paper in the carton as fabricated in order to afford better protection to the contained lamps, better retain the packed lamps within the container, improve the appearance of the carton or container and facilitate printing of the manufacturer's literature on the container. As

a specific example, both the facing paper and the corlarly critical for reasons as hereinafter explained. The

width dimension of the carton 10 should be approximately the same or slightly'less than the length of the lamp, to be. packed. although this is not. critical. The.

depth of the carton should preferably be slightly greater than the maximum diameter of the packed lamp in order to afford maximum protection when one carton is: stacked ton top of another during storage and shipment. The width of eachretaining slot 181s preferably slightly less than the maximum diameter ofnthe lampto be packed.

in order to better retain the packedlamp, although. this retaining slot width dimension is not criticalbecause of the securingaction of the retaining fiaps,.as hereinafter explained... The distance from the; center of one lamp retaining slot 18 to the center. of an. adjacentslot should.

be -slightly;gr.eate-r. ,than theymaximum diameter of. the lam-pzto be. packed, ,inorder to facilitate.lampdoading.

By-way.;of example, and not'by'way. of limitation, the carton and theylamp. tobe packed may have the. following dimensions:

Lamp contained-maximum diame-ter 71 Lamp contained-length over all 2" Lamp carton-designed to pack '5 lamps:

In Fig. 2 is illustrated the Christmas tree lamps- 30, as being loaded and as retained in the carton.. As shown each lamp isloaded by forcing it against-a transverse face cut 25 to force downwardly the. retaining, flaps 27 bounding either side. .of the transverse -.face cut. The downward pressure on the lamp, being loaded thus bends each of the retaining fiaps27 downwardly with respect to the facing spacers 29. After loading, each of the retaining flaps willjbe bent through more than 90 so that the flaps Willi contactthe packed lamps as to exert a continual' downward pressure upon them and retain securely each lamp in position within the carton.

In Fig. 3 is illustrated a sectional elevational view of one of the loaded lamps .further showing its orientation within the carton. It willbe observed that in the embodiment as illustrated, the overall lamp length is approximately equal to the maximumdiameter of the lamp carton or container and the corrugations 31 on the inner surface of the container cause-the inner diameter of the container to be slightly less than the overall length of v '50 somewhat longer or shorter, if.de s.ir.e.d, since the, effective the lamp contained. The container width could be made.

by-the flaps" 27'on a packed la'mpisin suchiadirection.

that it will intersect the plane of the bottom, of the container., Thus each lamp is individually retained. in. the

carton by two retaining flaps.

In the specific example of the containerdimensio'ns, as'heretofore given, the width of the retainin'gslot is given as slightly less than the maximum diameter of the. lamp to be packed. When loading .or packing the lamps.

in such acontainer the resilient facingspa-cers 29 will.

spread a sufficient amount upon lamp insertion toallow the lamp to slip-easily into its retainingslot. It will be observed that when external forces. tend to. pull the packed lamps from their position within the retaining.

slots,- the-retaining -fla'p s-27 will exert'an even stronger retaining force on the lamp contained, since the retaining .flaps arerelatively resilient orflexible. and. thein-m creased pressure of the lamp against these flaps will cause the flaps to bend through an even greater angle and thus exert an even stronger retaining force on the packed lamp. However, when the lamp has been sufficiently lifted from its slot so-that the retaining flaps 27 are bent through less than degrees, the resiliency of. the flaps will act .to eject'the lamp into-.the-hand of.

the user.

It will be further observedthatleach lamp has a. cushion of two retaining flaps between it and adjacentlamps, which retaining flaps are resilient and thus tend to resist movement of one lamp towardanother;

Still another advantage. isthat each, lamp is packed in the five unit container in such a manner that one lamp may be removed and the other packed lamps will still be securely contained. This is because the facing spacers and, retaining flaps act witheach lamp asa unit and are not. dependent. upon. cooperation with other packedlamps for their lamp retaining characteristics.-

In Fig. 5 isillustrated .one .of the lamp containers, during container fabrication,- aftertthe. edge cuts 20 and 22 and transverse .cutsZS. have been made. As istcustomary in the carton art, small retaining portions 32 are provided at. the extremities-ofthe. transverseeuts 25, which small retainingportionsare easilybroken when the lamp is inserted. These small retaining. portions are not necessary,-

but are desirable to facilitate fabrication of the carton.

d I0 ntain:the. lamp face substantially planar untilsuch-time as it:isdesired to loadthecontainer.

In fabricatingthe. container, after. all cuts have been stamped byconventional stamping techniques, one edge 34 isgglued to the other edge, 36 and the stamping. isfolded toform the folded carton; as illustrated in Fig. 6. These containers are thenstacked for use by the loading operator, and. the loading operation may'either be accomplished manuallyor; by machine. In loading the operator takes; a container and by applying av compressional force to the outermostexposed container edges forms the container into its final substantially rectangular configuration. serted into. the container as heretofore explained.

In Fig. 7 is: illustrated an alternative embodiment of; the lamp container, which alternative embodiment corresponds substantially tothe preferred embodiment as illustrated in Figs 16, except that the container is fabr icated of cardboard or chipboard, as it is known -in the; art.. Thechipboard is desirable for such applications as, require the use of -a relatively rugged container, al

though for.C hristrnas-tree lamps it is sufficient to use, the lighter and less-expensive corrugated andfacing -paper container, as in the preferred embodiment.

In packingChristmas tree lamps, the containerhas the particular advantage. in that a plurality of lamps of differ-- ent colors can be packed in'thesame container and the;

the packing container... In addition, one or more of the,

packed anddisplayed articles maybe removed without decreasing the elfectivenessof the packing for the; res t of ,thearticlesand all articles are separated from one. nothenby two protective layers of resilient. material. Further the .display container is. of very ;simp 1e,;construc- Each of the lamps may thenbe in-.

tion, is easily fabricated and is readily adaptable for multiple loading.

As a possible alternative embodiment, a thin paper strip may be placed across the lamp slots to prevent lamp pilferage when the containers are placed on display.

While in accordance with the patent statutes one best known embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be particularly understood that the invention is not limited thereto or thereby.

I claim:

1. The combination which comprises a lamp-packing and lamp-display container and the lamps packed therein, said container having sides, a bottom and a face, the height of each of said container sides being slightly greater than the maximum diameter of said packed lamps, said face containing a plurality of generally rectangular transversely-disposed lamp-receiving slots, facing spacers in said face one each of which separates adjacent slots, said slots being formed by substantially oppositely disposed cuts along the container edges formed by said face and said sides and by transverse cuts extending from one of said sides to the other of said sides and intermediate said facing spacers, said edge cuts and said transverse cuts also forming lamp-retaining flaps which are attached to said facing spacers and are resiliently bendable thereabout, each of said slots being bounded on each of its transverse sides by one of said flaps, a portion of each of said flaps which bounds an individual lamp-receiving slot contacting a portion of the lamp received therein, and the said lamp-contacting portion of each flap being resiliently bent more than 90 with respect to said facing spacers.

2. The combination as specified in claim 1 wherein said lamp-packing and lamp-display container is fabricated of chipboard.

3. The combination as specified in claim 1 wherein said lamp-packing and lamp-display container is fabricated of corrugated and facing paper.

4. The combination as specified in claim 3 wherein the corrugations on said container sides contact said packed lamps to inhibit lamp rotation about said retaining flap lamp-contacting portions.

5. The combination which comprises a lamp-packing and lamp-display container and the lamps packed therein, said container having sides, a bottom and a face, the height of each of said container sides being slightly greater than the maximum diameter of said packed lamps, a plurality of generally-rectangular transversely-disposed lamp-receiving slots contained in said face, facing spacers in said face and separating adjacent lamp-receiving slots, said slots formed by substantially oppositely-disposed cuts along the container edges formed by said face and said sides and by transverse cuts extending from one of said sides to the other of said sides and intermediate said facing spacers, lamp-retaining flaps formed by said edge cuts and said transverse cuts and attached to said facing spacers and resiliently bendable thereabout, each of said lamp-receiving slots bounded on each of its transverse sides by one of said lamp-retaining flaps, a portion of each of said lamp-retaining flaps which bounds an individual lamp-receiving slot contacting a portion of the lamp received therein and maintaining a pressure thereon, and the pressures maintained on each of packed lamps by said retaining flaps being expressible as a vector which intersects the plane of the bottom of said container.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,619,608 Fairchild Mar. 1, 1927 1,976,403 Kasser Oct. 9, 1934 2,096,315 Bemiss Oct. 19, 1937 2,205,157 Schrell June 18, 1940 2,717,115 Vines Sept. 6, 1955 

